ASU volleyball struggled to control the center of the net as they were swept by their rival Arizona.
In the first game of their 2018 Pac-12 schedule, the Arizona State Sun Devils struggled to get anything positive from the center of the net as they were swept in straight sets (18-25, 21-25, 18-25) by the Arizona Wildcats on Thursday night.
Hoping to improve from their 0-20 conference record last year, the Sun Devils started their conference play by traveling two hours south to take on the Wildcats.
As the Sun Devils were swept in three straight sets, a concerning part of the game was their play in the middle of the court.
ASU came into the match averaging 8.29 blocks per game, and during this game they had three blocks total. Two blocks came from Carmen Unzue and one came from Megan Beedie.
On the other side of the net, the Wildcats were dominating the Sun Devil hitters. Arizona got 21 total blocks throughout the match, including five in the final set.
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Devyn Cross was an anchor in the middle for the Wildcats. Cross got eight blocks throughout the match and even got the match winning block in the third set.
Cross was not alone as she got help from Katie Smoot and Paige Whipple, who got five and four blocks, respectively.
Those three were not only dominate on the defensive side, but also the offensive side of the net. Cross had four kills, Smoot had nine, and Whipple had five of her own.
Arizona’s front three greatly impacted how ASU’s middles performed. Unzue and Beedie are consistently reliable for the Sun Devils but struggled mightily.
Unzue had only four kills on 18 attacking attempts and Beedie had five kills on 10 attempts. Beedie was able to keep her hitting percentage up, as she has now moved up to second in the Pac-12 with .393 percent. Even though she had a good hitting percentage, Beedie was unable to connect with her setters to run her signature quick attack.
In order to bounce back and get back on the winning way, the Sun Devils are going to need big performances from their middles.
The next chance for ASU’s middles to bounce back is this Sunday as the Sun Devils travel to California to take on the Golden Bears.